Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Buys 191 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Pentair were worth $3,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Pentair by 862.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 441,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,212,000 after buying an additional 395,962 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 67.4% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 888,212 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $89,390,000 after acquiring an additional 357,523 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pentair during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,748,000. National Pension Service grew its holdings in Pentair by 726.4% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 296,554 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,845,000 after purchasing an additional 260,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Pentair by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $856,257,000 after purchasing an additional 259,922 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $91.11 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $15.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $95.36 and a 200 day moving average of $98.81. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $72.63 and a 52 week high of $110.71.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $972.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PNR shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Pentair in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.93.

Pentair Profile

Pentair plc provides various water solutions in the United States, Western Europe, China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Canada, and Japan. The company operates through three segments: Flow, Water Solutions, and Pool. The Flow segment designs, manufactures, and sells fluid treatment and pump products and systems, including pressure vessels, gas recovery solutions, membrane bioreactors, wastewater reuse systems and advanced membrane filtration, separation systems, water disposal pumps, water supply pumps, fluid transfer pumps, turbine pumps, solid handling pumps, and agricultural spray nozzles for fluid delivery, ion exchange, desalination, food and beverage, separation technologies in the oil and gas industry, residential and municipal wells, water treatment, wastewater solids handling, pressure boosting, circulation and transfer, fire suppression, flood control, agricultural irrigation, and crop spray in residential, commercial, and industrial markets.